May 29, 2000
LIFE & WORK:
Faith and reason are not mutually exclusive
___Ecclesiastes 8:16-17; Romans 8:5-8; Ephesians, 4:17-18, 22-24; Hebrews 11:1-2
___By Terri Morgan
___Christian Life Commission, BGCT
___How do we know what we know? Within a Christian worldview, how are we to understand what cannot be directly seen, heard, felt or grasped by intellectual means? This week's lesson concerns the theory of knowledge--epistemology, the classic study of themethod and grounds of knowledge.
___Since the time of the Enlightenment, people have sought an answer to the question of how one can know about God. Epistemology uncovers the relationship between faith and reason, believing and knowing. Faith gives certitude to spiritual realties and is based on the experience of God's intervention in the world, revealed in Jesus of Nazareth (Ephesians 4:22). The spiritual realities of faith, however, are not inconsistent with human reason. Scientific knowledge validates the reality of the world order and existence of physical matter.
___Ecclesiastes 8:16-17 tells us that when the mind is applied to know wisdom, then we can see what God has done. The Bible also affirms that God's Spirit enlightens the human mind, revealing the deep truths and complexities of the natural world, science and medicine (Romans 8:5-8).
___The importance of the deep human need to know God in a personal way and the awareness that we are made for more than worldly achievement cause us to search for God in religious experience and biblical tradition. The dominant culture that rejects religious experience because it is not logical does not understand the true nature of faith.
___Christian faith is a response to the living God, as revealed in Jesus Christ. Ephesians 4:23-24 affirms the centrality of the gospel message of faith as "response to Christ." Regeneration, the newness of attitude and newness of self, can only occur as a result of a life-changing encounter with the person of Christ. This is why Paul exhorts the Ephesians to seek spiritual renewal and conformity to the image of God in "true righteousness and holiness" (verse 24).
___How do we know what we know? The relationship of faith and reason often is discussed in terms of the provability of God's existence and whether such proof is adequate to bring an unbeliever to faith. Reason, or intellectual understanding, while certainly consistent with Christian faith, does not unite the believer with Christ. Reason alone cannot engender trust in the integrity and faithfulness of God.
___Faith, while rational, is not the same as belief in the historical reality of the gospels. Saving faith is a placement of trust in the one who encounters us in our deepest need and greatest sin.
___The power of biblical faith rests upon the integrity and faithfulness of God, who by grace redeems us in the person of Christ. Faith unites us to Christ, whereby we are reconciled to God (2 Corinthians 5:17-20).
___A Christian worldview recognizes faith and reason are not mutually exclusive. We can know reality through our human senses and intellect, trusting in the natural laws of the universe.
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